Bios: LEWIS C. COCHRAN: Lawrence County, Pennsylvania

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  Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Lawrence Co transcribers.
  Coordinated by Ed McClelland

  Copyright 2004.  All rights reserved.
  http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
 
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  Biographical Sketches of Leading Citizens
  Lawrence County Pennsylvania
  Biographical Publishing Company, Buffalo, N.Y., 1897
  
  An html version with search engine may be found at 
  
  http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/lawrence/1897/
  
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    LEWIS C. COCHRAN
    
    [p. 39] of New Castle, a dealer in flour, feed, hay and grain, was born in
  Indiana County, April 23, 1848, and is a son of William and Elizabeth
  (Cunningham) Cochran, and a grandson of William and Sarah Cochran. Our
  subject's grandparents were born in Ireland, and upon their immigration to
  this country settled in Indiana Co., Pa., where they lived to a good old age;
  Sarah Cochran was exceptionally long-lived, attaining the age of 103 years,
  being active and vigorous even to the last, with her strength of body, of
  seeing and hearing, impaired to an inappreciable degree.
    
    William Cochran, Jr., was born in Indiana County, and started out in life
  as an agriculturist, at which vocation he was very successful. He was a
  leading and prominent man, and served as constable of the town. In middle
  life, something like a ring-worm appeared on his cheek, and at first little
  thought was given to it, but as the months rolled by and it increased in size
  and brought to him added discomforts, he determined to consult a skilled
  physician, and accordingly rode on horseback to Philadelphia to have it
  examined and if need be to have it operated on. He was there informed that it
  was a cancer, and that no cure for it could be had; it eventually caused his
  death at the age of forty-eight. His wife survived him many years, reaching
  the age of seventy-eight years, her death resulting from a serious fall on
  the ice. They were Episcopalians in religious belief. Our subect's father was
  a Democrat, politically. There were born to them the following children: Jane,
  deceased; Archibald of Indiana, Pa.; Ruth, deceased; Rosanna, deceased;
  Alexander of Indiana, Pa.; Nancy, deceased; Stewart, deceased; Lily Ann, who
  married Peter Kunkle of Indiana, Pa.; John, deceased; Martha E., who married
  S. T. Hayes, now of New Castle; Lewis C., our subject; and George, deceased.
    
    Lewis C. Cochran's education was limited to the instruction he received in
  the district schools of his native place, attending those institutions till
  fourteen years of age, and then started out for himself at farming,
  continuing to labor at that occupation until 1866, when he came to New Castle
  to clerk in the Leslie House. He remained in that connection two years, and
  then clerked for Pierce, Clapp & Co.; during this time he availed himself of
  every opportunity to acquire a more comprehensive education, studying far
  into the night and at every chance moment. This diligence was not to go
  unrewarded, for the proprietors leaving him in charge of the business for a
  short time, our subject exhibited such skill and excellent judgment, that he
  was afterwards promoted to the position of bookkeeper, in which station he
  remained eleven years. He then opened a feed and flour store, where Develin's
  saloon is now on East Street, and ran a successful business there for nearly
  four years. He then bought the old Dr. Tidball property, where the house had
  been destroyed by fire, and in 1883 built a new house, and a feed store, to
  which he added a grocery store in 1887, and conducted both stores until 1896,
  when he relinquished the management of the grocery to his sons, William and
  Jessie L., who, under the firm name of Cochran Bros., enjoy a highly
  prosperous business. Our subject still has charge of the flour and feed
  store. He has built, in addition to the store and warehouse, a brick barn and
  a bakery, and in 1873 erected a brick residence, which at present is owned by
  Dr. Pollock.
    
    Mr. Cochran married Miss Rebecca Tunison, daughter of James Tunison of
  Mercer County, and has four children, namely: William James, born Feb. 11,
  1871, who married Ella Calderman, he is the senior member of the firm of
  Cochran Bros.; Jennie Agnes, born Oct. 20 1873, married Harry G. Kieser of
  New Castle; Jessie L., born Sept. 26, 1875, is a member of the firm of
  Cochran Bros., and married Hannah Watkins; Charles T., born June 16, 1877, is
  a clerk. Our subject never fails to give his earnest and hearty support to the
  support of the Democratic party. He is a member of the M. E. Church, and is a
  Royal Templar of Temperance, and a member of the Order of Ben Hur.